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Woman returns lost class ring to owner's widower

Ken Hansen holds the ring with his late wife's name Glenda engraved on it at Jervey Gantt Park in Ocala on Thursday September 26, 2013.

Lisa Crigar/Correspondent

By Andy FillmoreCorrespondent

Published: Sunday, September 29, 2013 at 10:08 p.m.

Last Modified: Sunday, September 29, 2013 at 10:08 p.m.

Rose Crowe said the whole experience just made her feel good.

More than 20 years ago she found a South Houston High Class of 1973 ladies gold high school ring here in Ocala. She recently returned it after an extensive Internet search, and the ring has become a cherished memento of a lost wife and mother for an Ocala man and his family.

Crowe, a retired Marion County School District data programmer, was walking past a credit union near her office about 1987 when the glint of an object in the grass near Eighth Street Elementary School caught her eye.

“I picked it up and knew it was someone's class ring. I took it home and tried to find information about Houston High School — I misread the name — and then put it in a drawer, where it remained until around June 2013, when I rediscovered it while doing some major revamping in my home,” Crowe said.

Crowe, 69, explained that when she first found the ring, “we had no personal computers. At work we were still using punch cards. But now, with the Internet searches available, I wanted to get this ring back to the owner.”

Crowe set out to find the owner by searching for what she realized was South Houston High School upon closer examination of the ring.

“There are several high schools with that name nationwide. I started to eliminate them by searching for the mascot, a helmeted Trojan- or Spartan-type profile on the side of the ring.

“I found bears and big cats and then eventually the Trojan profile for the correct school in Texas. Usually schools don't change mascots,” Crowe said.

Crowe had the school and the year but not the person's full or maiden name.

“We found the initials G.L.O. in the band,” Crowe recalled. She began searching files in the school's site that gave names of graduates by year.

She eventually hit paydirt: Glenda Lee Orr.

Sadly, she discovered a requiem notice for a Glenda Lee Orr on the school's site which also mentioned the name of the woman's husband, optometrist Dr. Ken Hansen, of Ocala.

“I went to the 'White Pages' people look-up and found a Ken Hansen here and called and said, 'I believe I have your wife's ring,' ” Crowe said.

Hansen, 58, was shocked, but recalled his wife had once said she lost something “personal and important,” referring to the ring.

“Glenda passed away in 2010 at age 55 after battling ovarian cancer for seven years. She was a nurse at Munroe Region Medical Center for over 20 years,” Hansen said at a meeting Thursday at the same site — the Millennium Dog Park — where Crowe had returned the ring to him.

“We met on a blind date. Glenda worked at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and I was going to the University of Houston,” Hansen said.

The Hansen family has lived in the Ocala area since about 1985.

“We have two daughters and a son, Terri Corsi, Bethany Kassam and Bobby Hansen. They were ecstatic about the ring being found and returned,” Hansen said.

Terri Corsi and her husband live in South Carolina. In a phone interview she said she was at first “in disbelief something would be returned lost that long ago.”

“I felt it was a sign from my mother she is still with us. It was her way of reaching out to us,” Corsi said.

Crowe and Hansen selected the Millennium Dog Park as a place to meet because of its central location and because Crowe regularly takes her dogs Lucky, a retriever mix, and Charm, a beagle mix, to the park. They met Sept. 20.

At a later meeting, on Thursday, Crowe and Hansen, accompanied by his mother, Joan Marsh, remarked on several coincidences surrounding the rediscovery of the ring.

For example, Crowe herself is an ovarian cancer survivor. And she rediscovered the ring this year close to, and possibly on, Glenda and Ken Hansen's wedding anniversary date, June 28.

“It is like a sign; like she was touching her family,” Crowe said.

“The ring has a white stone, Glenda's birthstone, for April. I may have the ring enlarged and wear it on my pinky finger,” Hansen said.

<p>Rose Crowe said the whole experience just made her feel good.</p><p>More than 20 years ago she found a South Houston High Class of 1973 ladies gold high school ring here in Ocala. She recently returned it after an extensive Internet search, and the ring has become a cherished memento of a lost wife and mother for an Ocala man and his family.</p><p>Crowe, a retired Marion County School District data programmer, was walking past a credit union near her office about 1987 when the glint of an object in the grass near Eighth Street Elementary School caught her eye.</p><p>“I picked it up and knew it was someone's class ring. I took it home and tried to find information about Houston High School — I misread the name — and then put it in a drawer, where it remained until around June 2013, when I rediscovered it while doing some major revamping in my home,” Crowe said.</p><p>Crowe, 69, explained that when she first found the ring, “we had no personal computers. At work we were still using punch cards. But now, with the Internet searches available, I wanted to get this ring back to the owner.”</p><p>Crowe set out to find the owner by searching for what she realized was South Houston High School upon closer examination of the ring.</p><p>“There are several high schools with that name nationwide. I started to eliminate them by searching for the mascot, a helmeted Trojan- or Spartan-type profile on the side of the ring.</p><p>“I found bears and big cats and then eventually the Trojan profile for the correct school in Texas. Usually schools don't change mascots,” Crowe said.</p><p>Crowe had the school and the year but not the person's full or maiden name.</p><p>“We found the initials G.L.O. in the band,” Crowe recalled. She began searching files in the school's site that gave names of graduates by year.</p><p>She eventually hit paydirt: Glenda Lee Orr.</p><p>Sadly, she discovered a requiem notice for a Glenda Lee Orr on the school's site which also mentioned the name of the woman's husband, optometrist Dr. Ken Hansen, of Ocala.</p><p>“I went to the 'White Pages' people look-up and found a Ken Hansen here and called and said, 'I believe I have your wife's ring,' ” Crowe said.</p><p>Hansen, 58, was shocked, but recalled his wife had once said she lost something “personal and important,” referring to the ring.</p><p>“Glenda passed away in 2010 at age 55 after battling ovarian cancer for seven years. She was a nurse at Munroe Region Medical Center for over 20 years,” Hansen said at a meeting Thursday at the same site — the Millennium Dog Park — where Crowe had returned the ring to him.</p><p>“We met on a blind date. Glenda worked at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and I was going to the University of Houston,” Hansen said.</p><p>The Hansen family has lived in the Ocala area since about 1985.</p><p>“We have two daughters and a son, Terri Corsi, Bethany Kassam and Bobby Hansen. They were ecstatic about the ring being found and returned,” Hansen said.</p><p>Terri Corsi and her husband live in South Carolina. In a phone interview she said she was at first “in disbelief something would be returned lost that long ago.”</p><p>“I felt it was a sign from my mother she is still with us. It was her way of reaching out to us,” Corsi said.</p><p>Crowe and Hansen selected the Millennium Dog Park as a place to meet because of its central location and because Crowe regularly takes her dogs Lucky, a retriever mix, and Charm, a beagle mix, to the park. They met Sept. 20.</p><p>At a later meeting, on Thursday, Crowe and Hansen, accompanied by his mother, Joan Marsh, remarked on several coincidences surrounding the rediscovery of the ring.</p><p>For example, Crowe herself is an ovarian cancer survivor. And she rediscovered the ring this year close to, and possibly on, Glenda and Ken Hansen's wedding anniversary date, June 28.</p><p>“It is like a sign; like she was touching her family,” Crowe said.</p><p>“The ring has a white stone, Glenda's birthstone, for April. I may have the ring enlarged and wear it on my pinky finger,” Hansen said.</p>